Stocking or sock and method of knitting the same.



. R. W. SCOTT.

STOCKING OB SOOK AND METHOD OF KNITTING THE SAME.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 13, 1918.

1 ,QHJ GU, Patented Aug. 26, 1913.

2 SHBETS-SHEBT 2,

. R. W. SCOTT.

STOCKING OR SOGK AND METHOD OF KNITTING THE SAME.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 13, 1913.

1 ,0? 1 1 0% Patented Aug. 26, 1913.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

I tion.

circle of needles arranged to knit the fabric of knitting one form of said stocking and;

'vention; Fig. 5 is a diagram plan of a circle .of. instruments arranged to knit a stocking:

UNITED STATES Parana OFFICE.

nonnnr w. sooner, or nos'ron, nassacnusn'rrs, Assumes T0 scorr a WILLIAMS, rnconronn'rnn, or CAMDEN, NEW JERSEY, .A conronarrou on NEW JERSEY.

STOCKING OR SOGK AND METHOB 0F KNITTING THE SAME.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 26, 1913.

- Application filed larch 13, 1913. Serial No. 753,928.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ROBERT W. Soon, a citizen of the United States, and resident: of Boston, in the. county of Sudolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Stockings or Socks and Methods of Knitting the: Same, of which the following is a SPGClfiCflE Anobject of my invention is to provide a-% stocking, and especially a mans stocking or sock, having an integrally formedltop which shall be durable and comfortable, and which shall be cheap to manufacture and attrac-" tire in'appearance.

Another object of my invention is to provide a garment of the character indicated which may be knit at a single operation upon a circular knitting machinehav'ing a single set of needles.

To these ends my invention comprises the 1 steps constituting the method or art of knit- I ting the fabric, and the fabric produced by the practice of said steps. I- i In the accompanying drawings, Figure l: is a view showing a stocking embodying my invention; Fig. 2 is a figure in the nature of a diagram showing the steps in the method.

the structure of the resulting knit fabric;: Fig. 3 is a diagram plan of a segment of a:

of Fig. 2; Fig. 4 is a fragmentary cross sec-' tion through the fabric of the top and the welt of a stocking made according to my in-i having a top with sections three wales wide: of SOllCl fabric and intervening runs or ladders of. unknit yarn one Wale Wide; Fig. 6.- is a diagram similar to Fig. 2 showing the: fabric produced by the arrangement of Fig. 5; Fig. 7 is a plan of another arrangement 1 of a circle. of needles to knit a welted top; and plain body with sections of three adja-i cent solid wales; Fig. 8 is a view showing.- the fabric produced by the arrangement of.

Fig. 7; Fig. 9 .is a plan view showing an arrangement for knitting a welted to having solid plain fabric sections four wa es .Wider and a plain fabric body portion; Fig. 10;? is a diagram showing the fabric produced: by the arrangement of Fig. 9; Fig. 11 I88;

diagram showing a segment of a circle of;

leg portion B, the heel, foot and toe are con cerned.

I provide my improved stocking with an integral plain fabric top T of solid fabric iaving thereinruns or walesof yarn floats w, formed by the omission of knitting at a needle or needles during the knitting upon the needles flanking it at each side. As an end finish against raveling I also provide a short turned welt w formed by knitting upon a recurrent needle or needles of the series of needles and therefore containin a definite number of wales and a less num er than the leg portion B. This welt is fastened upon the face of the fabric, and the fabric thereof presents its back or loop instead of its face or Wale side outwardly.

The fabric structure which will now be described in connection with the steps in the method of forming it, is particularly designed to enable its production upon au'to .matio machinery at a continuous operation, although the steps of the method and the production of the article may readily be practised and attained by the use of handoperated instruments or machines.

Referring now to Fig. 2, I have shown'at I a section .of a series of needles or instruments which may be taken as representative of a portion of the needles of a knitting machine viewed in plan and standing in a straight line.' Assuming the said needles to be arbitrarily divided into a series of threes I begin the production of the stocking by retiringfrom action; the adjacent needles 1 and 2 throughout the circle, and by feeding to theremaining needles 3 an initial yarn a, which may be-locked upon the faces of the needles 3 by reason of the projection in front of it of the needles 1 and 2, to enable the needles 3 to initiate knitting with certainty. I have shown needles upon which n knitting is done at the time represented by'th'eir position in the fabric of the varlopslfigures in solid black,and the active needles as open circles. a

In 3 I have indicated; a segment of the rice;

les arranged as'win a circular knittin machine .but the same order as those of' ig. 2, and' showing their cooperating instruments, which may be long Jacks 7' and short jacks 8, for determining the sorting of the needles into active and inactive series, but which instruments, for the purpose of practising my method, may essentially consist only of means capable of use to determine the action'or inaction of the respective needles at different times in the procedure.

As shown at II, I now feed a course I), having first restored to action all of the needles 2, leaving the needles 1 out of action. In this course 6, needles 2 and 3 both take yarn. Before the next course, the needles 2 are again retired from action, but they are causedto retain their loops, and upon feeding of the third course a only the needles 3 -cient number of courses,-shown for example merely as four, to form the welt w by theoperation of the needles 3 only. I find that,

having begun the structure with a selvage,

and having retained loops in other wales than those employed to knit the welt fabric, I am enabled to knit a durable and properly finished welt upon only one-third of the needles. If the extentis sufiiciently short and the size of the yarn and the length of the loops are properly gaged, such a welt is of a good appearance and of sufficient lateral elasticity. The withheld loops in the wales of the needles 2 are indicated at y in Figs. 2 and 4, but it will be understood that for purposes of clearness in said diagram, Fig. 2, said loops are shown greatly elongated, whereas in practice the stitches comprising them are relatively of the same size as the loops in the knit fabric, as will be apparent from Fig. 4:. Having knit sufiicient fabric upon the needles 3 to form the welt, said needles 3 are retained in action to knit standing wales g of a succeeding section of fabric for the top T of the stocking, and the needles 2 which are adjacent to said needles 3 are now restored to action, drawing their primary loops 2 through the loop 1 held in their hooks to castoil the welt, all as illustrated at III, Fig. 2. Thus it will be seen that the initial course (i of the section T is knit by the needles '2 and 3 of each group, and that said course contains loops in continuation of the standing Wale g from the needle 3, common to the welt and the section T, the initial loop of the knit wale from the needle 2 impaling and locking down the withheldor uniting stitch y of the second course of the welt. Knitting is nowcontinued upon said needles 2 and 3 for the desired extent of the section T, which thus isformed of plain fabric having solid sections two wales wide separated by. floats or runs of yarn a: one 'wale wide at the location and of the sameefiect as elongated sinker Wales joining adjacent needle wales. The

elasticity of the yarn causes said runs.

or floats to bow toward the back of the fabric in a manner familiar to knitters, thus giving the section T a pleasing ribbed appearance and causing it to have less width than the leg B, which is knitupon all of the needles. I may, however, provide increased elasticity to enable the garment to be stretched by increasing the length of the loops in the section T, and it is within my invention to employ difl'erent yarns for the welt w, and for the section T and for the remainder of the garment. A sufiicient length ofthe section T havingheen formed, I may now place in action the needles 1, which heretofore haveperformed no art in the operation. As indicated at IV in ig. 2, all of the needles are now in action and solid plain. knitting is initiated at the course e, which contains initial loopsin the wales from the needles 1, in continuation of the wales occupied by the floats or l'lllIS a. Solid plain knitting upon all of the needles is now performed in a manner well known in the art for the leg B, the heel, foot and toe portions of the stocking.

Referring now to Figs. 5 and 6, and to Figs; 7, 8, 9 and 10, it is sometimes desirable to provide a relatively greater extent of fabric in the wales of the top section T than" is produced by the arrangement of Fig. 2, in which two wales of knitting are flanked by one wale of dropped or floated yarns. When the number of needles is divisible by four, as in the case of Fig. 7, I may provide for three wales of knitting, and one unknit Wale by the arrangement shown in F ig. 7, in which the long jacks 7' indicate needles operated to knit at all times and short jacks s indicate needles which are the needle 1. A first course may be taken in such a manner as to secure a starting s elvage structure by first feeding it to the needles 2 and i only, the needles 1 and 3 being projected empty behind the said ac tive needles 2 and 4 as indicated in Fig. 9, which shows the end of the first course. If now a second course?) is knit by the needles 2, 3, and 4, missing the needle 1, a selvage structure at the wales 2, 3 and 4 will result, but upon attempting to withhold loop 3, the next knitting movements of the needles 2 and 4 will be initiated with respect to the gap at the needle 1, where there is no previous loop, and such'needles 2 and 4 will behave as one needle, casting oil a long open loop. This fabric is unsatisfactory for all the desired purposes. I may, however, withhold the uniting loops :1 in the second course I) by the operation of either of the needles 2 or 4 flanking the gap at the inactive needle 1, which it should be noticedhas not yet taken yarn. The resulting structure is shown in Fig. 8. It will be seen that, if the needle 2 is selected to be placed out of operation, the initial loop in the wale from the needle 4 occurs in the second course I), which is interlocked only with the wales 3. After the third course the wale from needle 4 is otherwise normal,'and a welt fabric so made will course and the second course, thereby necessitating complexities in the machinery, in

the case of machine manufacture, and for' such machine manufacture I prefer the arrangement for producing a fabric having the same order of wales and runs as shown in Figs. 5 and 6. The needles are again divided into groups of successive fours of which the needle 1 is the last to be entered into operation. One group of needles, 2. 3

and 4 has its even number members supplied with short jacks and its central member 3 supplied with a long jack, while at the next group long jacks are supplied for the needles 2 and 4, and central needle 3 is supplied with a short jack. As before the needles with long jacks are projected to take the yarn of the first course, the needles 1 and those needles 2, 3, and 4 which have short jacks remaining idle andunfed, to be projected before the second course in front of the yarn as shown in Fig. 5, which illustrates the end of the, first course. If the number of needles in the circle is a product of the number ina group (in this case gap created by the empty needle 1. I may remedy this by foregoing the making of a ladder or run in the fabric in the wale h from said needle 1, as shown in Fig. 6, which shows the structures so formed at any selected part. of the tube of fabric, the remainder of which will be normal. The needle 1 may be placed in normal operation by supplying it with a long jack, or by operating it in the same manner as remaining standing wale needles indicated by long jacksj. This difficulty, it will be understood, will not occur when the whole number of needles is the product of an even number multiplied by four.

It will be noticed in Fig. 5 that the first course is engaged with alternate needles except at the needles 1, where the yarn is passed behind said needle 1 and that needle flanking it which is supplied with a short jack. As in the fabric previously described the operations succeeding the initial course shown in Fig. 5 are in succession to restore all of the needles except the needles 1 to operation for a second course I), and there after to operate upon needles represented by the short jacks to withhold uniting loops y. As a machine operation this may readily be performed by causing the needles having short jacks to retire into their carrier at the yarn feed point upon each revolution of the knitting head; or on each passage of the cams in the case of a straight machine. As in the procedure previously described, when a sufficient length of fabric has been knit upon the standing wales 9 formed at the needles having long jacks j, I' rest-ore all of the needles having jacks to operation for an initial course 0' of the top fabric T, which initial course will contain loops 2 formed on the withheld or short jack needles, and therefore impaling and casting off each of the loops 3 to initiate another Wale of solid fabric. After such a further number of courses have been formed, as may be desired, to constitute the 'top section T, the previously inactive needles 1 will be restored to operation. In order to fill the eyelet hole at the bottom of the omitted needle wales a, I prefer to insert the needles 1 during one course, to then retire them during the next succeeding course with their taken loop of yarn still in their hooks, and

then to reinsert them to continue in operation to complete a circle of needles for the production of solid plain fabric. in some cases, however, as illustrated in Fig. 2, I may delay this special operation of the needles 1 until after the said needles have taken and knit the yarn for one or more courses thus producing the withheld loops upon the needles 1, in a course f for instance, at such wales as are represented by the position of the needles 1. 1n the fabric of Fig. 2 every third wale will contain the withheld-loop or draw stitch structure so made. A course of this character presents an effective stop against the running of drop stitches formed by a hole in the fabric, as pointed out in the patent to L. A. Costello, No. 976,555, dated November 22, 1910. In

Figs. 9 and 10 I have illustrated by the same kind of showing as in Figs. 5 and 7 the first course and the arrangement of the needles and their instruments, when it is contemplated to knit a top section 'I, having four solid wales of plain knitting and one intervening wale of runs or floats a Inthis case the number of needles to be put into operationv for the top T is an even number, and an alternation of needles to be actuated for the first or selvage course is readily possible by providing each group with alternate long andshort jacks. As in the case of Fig. 5 one recurring series of uniting loops 9 will be formed in a Wale flanking the Wale from an inactive needle 1, and others in internal wales ofthe solid parts of the top fabric T.

In Fig. 11 I have illustrated a segment of I a circle arranged for a top section 'I having only half as many wales as the body portion, upon which a welt may be knit in a manner similar to the remaining examples given. The top T of the fabric knit when the operations are those indicated by Fig. 11 will, however, require to be knit of long, loose stitches to provide suflicient lateral elasticity. It will be noticed from inspection of Fig. 11 that the order of operations indicated therein by the arrangement of the jacks j and s is such as to cause a tying loop y to be withheld at every fourth wale.

, ing corresponding to my invention as ar In any of the forms of the fabrics above illustrated the fabric of the short welt w may without detriment to the appearance or utility of the garment be knit with sufliciently long loops and of a sufiiciently large yarn to render itas elastic laterally as the fabric of the section T following it. I have indicated the relative length of the welt w in Fig. 1, but its relative length may be greatly varied, from a few courses to sixty or more, depending upon the relative proportions desired.

While I have shown the continuous series of needles employed to knit a seamless stock ranged in circles, it will be obvious that such continuous series might comprise two straight series of needles near each other, for instance as in the familiar Lamb knitting machine.

It will be seen that I have provided a.

garment of excellent appearance and utility which may be rapidly knit upon a type of machinery requiring little attendance to the great decrease of the cost of the garment as compared with a stocking having a transferred top of'the character heretofore known in the art. I have at the same time provided by the device of the top section T for the retention of the traditional appearance of ribbed stockings, Which is of value to the garment as an article of commerce and of advantage to it as an article of wear.

Aside from the advantage of continuous manufacture flowing from my process and attached to its product, each of the stockings disclosed presents a distinct economy of yarn over a stocking provided with a ribbed top, in which more yarn is included necessarily than in the plain fabric section T. I 'may thus knit the entire top and body of silk or other superior yarns, or of cotton plated with silk, without the serious additional cost attached to making the whole structure of a. ribbed top of such a yarn. 'When a plated fabric is desired, the structure of the top T presents no obstacle to plating such as is inherently present in a ribbed structure.

What I claim is 1. As a new article of manufacture a seek or half hose having an integral top in which there are longitudinal rows or wales of unknit yarn separating plain fabric sections, and an integral welt engaged at one end with some of the wales of the solid fabric of the top section, and continuous with other wales of said section.

2. A stocking having in succession a welt, a top portion and a body or leg portion, the fabric of the welt containing a certain number of wales, said top portion containing a greater number of wales in recurrent predetermined groups, and including wales conti'nuous with those of the welt, and said body portion containing a greater number of continuous adjacent wales including wales continuous with those forming the other sec: tions of. the fabric.

3. ,A stocking having in integral succession a welt, a top portion and a body or leg portion, the fabric of the welt containing a certain number of recurrent separated wales, said top portion containing recurrent knit wales in the aggregate of a greater number than those of the welt, and the body portion of solid plain fabric having therein a greater number of wales than the top portion, some of said wales having initial draw stitches.

4. A stocking having a body portion of plain knit fabric formed in integral prolongation of a section of fabric comprising groups of wales of solid plain knitting separated by floats or runs of yarn, said section of fabric being in integral prolongation" of a welt having a selv age course and a subsequent course containing loops each impaled by an initial loop of one of the wales of each of said sections of solidplain fabric.

As a new article of manufacture, a cireular knit stocking having insuccession a welt comprising recurrent wales continuing into wales of the top of the stocking, said welt having a course of uniting loops in engagement with the initial stitches of certain other wales of the top portion of the stocking, and a pl'ainfabric body or leg in integral prolongation of said top port-ion having an initial course containing stitches engaging a course preceding the next previous course.

6. A stocking having a'body portion of.

plain knit fabric formed in integral-prolongationof a' section of fabric comprising groups of Wales of solid, plain knitting separated by floats or runs of yarn, one of the wales beluga standing wale in integral prolongation oftheeknit -loops of a welt having a selvagel course and a subsequent course containing loops connecting two adjacent standing wales, and impaled by an initial prising standi' 7 adjacent to the standing wales whose initial loops are drawn through said uniting stitches, said body portion having acougrse near its junction with the top containing loops withheld during an intervening course.

8. A knit fabric or article having in integral succession a turned welt, a top section of plain fabric continuous with said Welt containing a certain number of knit wales, and a solid, plain fabric body portion containing' more knit wales than said top section.

9. A knit fabric or article having in integral succession a turned welt, a top section of fabric vcontaining lines or runs of yarns formed at an unemployed needle, and a solid, plainfabric body portion, said welt section having therein fewer wales of knit loops than said body portion and tying or uniting stitches engaged with the loops of certain of the wales of said top section.

' 10. ,The art of knitting a stocking having a welt, a top and a body portion at a con tinuous operation u on a continuous series of instruments whic consists in first feeding yarn at recurrent instruments onl in thereafter feeding yarn and forming oops at each of the instruments first fed, and at oneor more adjacent instruments, in thereafter withholding some of. the loops at the instruments which have been employed,

during the formation upon the remaining instruments so far in use of fabric for a welt; and then knitting at only those instruthereafter feeding yarn and forming loops at continuous recurrent groups of said instruments, omitting an intervening instrument or instruments, and thereafter withholding some of said loops at certain recurring instruments of said groups during the formation upon the remaining instruments of said groups of fabric for a welt; in then knitting upon all of the needles of said groups of instruments, including those upon which a loop has been withheld to form a section containing runs or floats of free yarn, and thereafter knitting aleg, heel, foot and toe.

12. The art of knitting a stocking consisting of first forming a selvage structure, withholding loops of a course of said structure subsequent to its initial course, and thereafter knitting a welt containing wales of loops less in number than the loops in the final course of the selvage structure, and thereafter knitting a top. section of fabric containing more wales than the welt fabric, said step including the formation of an initial course of. said top section having loops impaling the withheld loops of the selvage structure; and thereafter knitting solid plain fabric having a reater number of wales than said top section for the leg of the stocking.

13. The art of knitting a stocking having I in integral succession a welt, a top portion 105 and a leg and foot, upon a continuous series of instruments, which consists in first forming a starting or selvage course of loops of yarn upon recurrent members only of recurrent groups of said instruments separated 110 by intervening instruments, said intervening instruments receiving no yarn; in then forming a new course and casting off the starting course upon all of the instruments of said recurrent groups; in then withhold- 116 ing the loops upon one or more of the instruments only of each of said groups during the formation upon the remainder of the instruments of sald groups of fabric for a welt, in thereafter forming an initial 120 course and successive courses of fabric for the top portion, upon all of the instruments of said groups only, the operation including casting off the terminal stitches of the welt and said withheld loo sg-and in thereafter 126 knitting the leg-and oot upon all of said instruments, including the intervening in struments hitherto unused.

14. The art of knitting a stocking having in integral succession a welt, a top portion 130 and a leg and foot upon a continuous series of instruments, which consists in first forming a starting or selvage course of loops of yarn upon recurrent members only of recurrent groups of said instruments separated by inteiw'ening instruments, said intervening instruments receiving no yarn; in then forming a new course and casting off the starting course upon all of the instruments of said recurrent groups; in then withholding the loops upon one or more of the instruments only of each of said groups during the formation upon the remainder of the instruments of sald groups of fabric for a welt; in thereafter forming an initial course and successive courses of fabric for the top portion upon all of the instruments of said groups only, the operation including casting 01f the terminal stitches of the welt and said Withheld loops; and in thereafter knitting the leg and foot upon all of said instruments, including the intervening instruments hitherto unused, the operation including the formation upon and withholding upon said intervening instruments of groups in said series of one or more of said instruments, the knitting of the welt being performed at groups separated by a rality of instrument-spaces; knitting for the top section being performed at groups separated by a less number of instrumentspaces, and knitting for the body portion being-performed at contiguous groups forming together an unbroken series of instruments. v

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

ROBERT W. SCOTT.

Witnesses HARRY J KELLY, MARY F. GRIFFIN. 

